“I wish you could come with me, little bird. Few
mortals have attuned themselves so completely with our people. Yet such
Grace is not mine to give. So sing! Play! Enjoy Rivendell while it
lasts.”
“But, Master, you have given me that Grace! Don't you think I'm in
Valinor now?” She laughed. “As much as mortal heart can
bear.”
“And a true heart it is.”
Tinw is a descendant of nobody important. Her Elvish name,
“spark” or “tiny star”, refers more to personality
than looks. Like Bilbo, she is a mortal drawn to the Last Homely House
by love of Elves. She was born among the Woodmen of Mirkwood, where she
saw and heard just enough of Wood-elves to become enchanted. But Dol
Guldur's growing gloom spread a wasting sickness that killed her
mother,
and her family fled. Her father drowned at Sarn Gebir. At the tender
age
of 14 she washed up, quite alone, in Minas Tirith, during the last grim
years before the King's return. City life did not suit her. Unable to
cope with the world of Men, Tinw finally sought that of Elves. After a
few years’ wandering as an itinerant harper, she found her way to
Rivendell.
The valley’s residents have grown accustomed to the sound of her
lyre and earnest voice ringing from a high balcony of the Bards’
Guild she calls home. Her apprenticeship to Soronúmë,
Master
of Song, forged an unlikely but abiding friendship. And the Elves
bestowed a great honor on her, one of their Three Jewels of Light (none
other than the “Jewel of True Heart”, exactly one week after
her master spoke those prophetic words). But the fairytale proved
short-lived. Tinw’s innocence was one of the casualties of a
assault on Rivendell by the forces of Mordor. Taken captive, imprisoned
for a time in Barad-dûr itself, Tinw nearly succombed to her
injuries before her master and Nurbor Calad rescued her on the slopes
of
the Ered Lithui, where she had somehow managed to drag herself seeking
one last glimpse of sun.
Will her heart mend when her body has healed? “Aurë
entuluva,” she whispered when they found her. Like Húrin
who spoke those words so long ago, she now knows the price.
<< Fanatics Plaza
<< Imladris Kingdom Pages
